War of the Worlds (2025)

Movie · 2025 · Science Fiction, Thriller · 1h 31m · PG-13 · English

Curator score: 0.0/10 (220.2K ratings)

Your data is deadly.

Overview

Will Radford is a top analyst for Homeland Security who tracks potential threats through a mass surveillance program, until one day an attack by an unknown entity leads him to question whether the government is hiding something from him... and from the rest of the world.

Ratings

Director

Rich Lee

Production

Universal Pictures, Bazelevs, Patrick Aiello Productions

Cast

Ice Cube, Eva Longoria, Clark Gregg, Iman Benson, Henry Hunter Hall, Devon Bostick, Andrea Savage, Nicole Pulliam, Michael O'Neill, Jim Meskimen

Where to watch

Amazon Prime Video, Amazon Prime Video with Ads

Curator Review

Verdict

A low-budget, heavily mocked sci-fi thriller that seems to lean on surveillance paranoia and alien invasion basics without delivering the craft, tension, or coherence the premise needs. The reaction suggests it plays more like an accidental curiosity than a satisfying genre film.

Best for

  • Viewers who enjoy so-bad-it's-fascinating disasters
  • People curious about infamous modern sci-fi misfires
  • Fans of meme-heavy communal viewing experiences

Skip if

  • You want competent suspense or polished effects
  • You prefer serious, immersive alien invasion stories
  • You are looking for strong performances or coherent plotting

Overview

This is a classic high-concept setup built for paranoia: a Homeland Security analyst, mass surveillance, and an invasion that may be hidden in plain sight. In practice, the film appears to collapse under its own cheapness, with viewers focusing less on story beats than on the spectacle of how badly it all comes together.

Worth noting

The tone, based on the response, is not tense or eerie so much as unintentionally comic. Instead of escalating dread, it seems to generate disbelief at the writing, performances, and visual execution, which turns the movie into a viral punchline more than a thriller.

Bottom line

If you’re hunting for a sleek modern update on alien invasion anxiety, this is not the one. If you’re interested in a notorious failure that people will probably keep revisiting for the wrong reasons, it has that grim novelty.

Top Letterboxd reviews

dumbsville (0.5★) · 16813 likes

ice cube pleeeaassseee i need this!! my mom's kinda homeless... ice cube I'm watching your stream why you tryin not to laugh?? bro that's disrespectful as shit bruh, STOP FUCKIN LAUGHIN BRUH!

James (Schaffrillas) (1★) · 12279 likes

Shaking my head to show that I disagree with the aliens deleting my dead wife's Facebook account

Jake (1★) · 8612 likes

Amazon Prime will literally save us from Aliens AND Big Government. Thank you Jeff Bezos ❤️

the_jimbo (0.5★) · 8341 likes

Ice Cube like 17 times in this movie: 😎🤏 🤨🕶️🤏

mary (0.5★) · 6441 likes

this movie wasn't released. it escaped.

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Topics

science fiction, thriller, alien invasion, surveillance, paranoia, government conspiracy, apocalyptic, camp, low-budget, viral flop

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